Going the Distance
by thedarkangel22
Summary: 'But his confession came too late. The words fell on ears that would never again hear him.' NejiTen Oneshot. Rated for mild swearing.


**Another NejiTen because Neji is sexy as hell (I'll never forgive Kishi for killing him) and Tenten is a goddess, and their love is the sweetest thing ever.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, because if I did, it'd be all about NejiTen**

* * *

"Lee!"

Panting hard, Neji turned sharply. His Byakugan was activated, and yet he could see _nothing_. And for someone who was used to seeing everything, seeing nothing was quite unsettling. Still, Neji was a Jonin. He knew that he had to remain calm in situations such as these.

Situations where he was out in the forest in the middle of the night with a useless Byakugan and his teammates nowhere in sight.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, the seasoned shinobi tried to battle back his growing frustration with the situation. Jumping into the cover of the trees, he tried to activate his Byakugan again. When he couldn't see anything, again, he couldn't help but let out a grunt of annoyance. Whether his annoyance was with his own inabilities or with his teammates for disappearing, he didn't know.

"Gai-Sensei!"

Again, no response.

Closing his eyes for a moment, Neji sank down to sit cross-legged on the thick branch. Evening his breathing, he slipped into the familiar state of meditation. He needed to calm himself down, so he could think clearly. But something was wrong. He could practically _feel_ it. His chest hurt, not because he was injured, but because of something else. He didn't like the feeling at all.

Team Gai had set out on a simple enough mission the night before. They had to travel to a village near the Fire country border and escort a Daimyo to the neighboring village. In his own opinion, it was hardly a task that required four Jonin, but the Hokage had thought differently. Tsunade had insisted upon all of Team Gai being sent out on the mission, something about the importance of the Daimyo and the skill of the enemy. Regardless, who was he to argue with the Hokage about mission assignments. Besides. Ever since the three of them had been promoted to Jonin ranks, they didn't have many missions together. Though he wouldn't admit it, it was nice to be back with his old squad. Lee and Gai hadn't gotten any less aggravating over the years with their proclamations of youth and other such trivial things, but it was nice to be with the spandex clad lunatics again.

And then there was Tenten.

Just the thought of his female ex-teammate was enough for Neji to become distracted from his meditation. Blinking his eyes open, he frowned as the pain in his chest intensified.

Tenten.

They hadn't spoken in quite some time, and there was no one to blame for that but him. Sure they weren't on the same team anymore, but nothing was really stopping them from still being close. In fact, all the others from Rookie 9 remained very close to one another, especially to the members of their former teams. His own team was like that in the beginning, meeting up for lunches or training whenever they were all free. But Neji, having advanced earlier than the rest of Rookie 9, had his sights set on ANBU. And so, slowly but surely, he began declining requests for group dinners or training. He'd go off and practice on his own, day in, day out. He was focused, almost obsessively so, on bettering himself. On becoming the strongest ninja he could be. And when he reached the goals he set for himself, he'd go ahead and make more. He supposed he learned that from Gai-Sensei.

Pretty soon, Lee and Gai seemed to get the memo and they stopped making a fuss when he was continually absent from group outings. But Tenten, persistent Tenten, wouldn't give up so easily. He wasn't surprised really. The Kunoichi was as stubborn as they came, and she'd be damned before she gave up. On anything.

More than that, the two of them always had this…bond. Even when they were genin, the two of them had slid into an easy friendship, which then turned into something more intense. He supposed it was inevitable when you spent most of your days in life or death situations with the same group of people.

Neji refused to acknowledge the treacherous little whisper in his head that pointed out that he didn't care for Lee or Gai in the way he cared for Tenten, despite them all being on missions together.

He brushed the thought aside, as he'd done with similar thoughts for years before. But he had to admit that it was steadily getting harder and harder to ignore those thoughts that suggested he felt something more than camaraderie for the Weapons Mistress.

Swallowing a lump in his throat, Neji let his mind drift to that one night months ago. He and Tenten had been sent on a scouting mission in Wind Country. Their job was completed to perfection, naturally, and they were back in Fire country ahead of schedule.

During the entire trip, Tenten had kept to herself. They were a couple hours away from Konoha and he frowned then, wondering how they'd gotten to a point where unsettling silence was the only thing between them. They were best friends. And while they weren't as loud as their other two teammates, they were close in their own way. An unfamiliar sense of guilt weighed in his heart as he looked upon his closest friend. He did this. He had driven this wedge between them. And he couldn't help but hate himself for it.

For weeks she'd been trying to get him to train with her or to simply sit and meditate with her as they'd used to. But he'd always found something else to do, somewhere else he'd had to be. And every single time he turned her down, he pretended like he couldn't see the crestfallen look in her big brown eyes. That he couldn't see the way her shoulders slumped slightly before she gave him a little smile that didn't reach her eyes. Every time, she told him that she understood and that they'd just hang out next time. Every time, he could see that he was breaking her heart a little more.

It didn't take a genius to realize that Tenten had…feelings for him. Feelings that weren't platonic. Of course, it was only a speculation since neither he nor she ever brought it up, but it was hard to miss. Most of Konoha was already sure that the two of them were secretly dating after all. The rest of Rookie 9 used to tease them mercilessly about it. He didn't miss the way Tenten would blush before averting her gaze to the floor and brushing it off like it was nothing. Neji, who had better control over his emotions, would simply stand there as though they hadn't said anything in the first place.

But his heart always seemed to lurch ever so slightly when it happened, his palms going damp.

And he was so horrified at the feeling that he made the extra effort to shove it way down into the dark recesses of his heart.

He found that it was easier to keep such feelings and the accompanying thoughts at bay when he wasn't around her. And so, like the coward the he was so insistent that he wasn't, he distanced himself from her slowly. And she began to take notice, of course. He'd have been quite disappointed in her if she didn't.

The silence had gotten to be too much, and he'd made a stupid, backhanded remark about it. Tenten being Tenten, got all fired up and got in his face about the whole ordeal, cursing and throwing punches. Accusing him of being an asshole.

And he was an asshole.

Especially since he was paying less attention to what she was saying, and more attention to the way her cheeks were flushed prettily and the way one of her buns was slowly unraveling.

It was then, in the middle of her angry rant, that Neji realized that Tenten was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen.

He'd promptly turned around and stalked away from her soon after the realization, a faint blush lighting his own cheeks in embarrassment and shock at the train of his thoughts. He could all but hear Tenten sputtering in indignation behind him. She was not pleased with him.

At all.

She'd come running at him, and he was so preoccupied with trying to force down all the feelings bubbling to the surface that he soon found himself flat on his back with a furious Kunoichi perched atop him. It certainly did not help matters. Neji could hardly breathe as he went completely still. His eyes widened, and his jaw went slightly slack as he stared up at her. She was yelling, making wild gestures with her hands, and he wasn't hearing any of it. Instead, he was mesmerized by her pink lips and the fiery twinkle in her brown eyes.

It was a very un-Neji like moment, and he had decided that he didn't like the feeling at all.

He needed her to get off, he needed to go away and get far, far away from her. They were shinobi. They didn't have time for… _this._ For _feelings._ They only got in the way of things. And he had so many goals he wanted to accomplish, so many things he wanted to do. He couldn't let… _feelings_ distract him. Not after he'd come so far, worked so hard.

And even then, he couldn't help but want to stay near her. He couldn't help but feel those very feelings that were drowning him. He wanted to hold her, he wanted to tell her that he cared and that he wanted to be with her. These feelings…they'd been building for years, despite being ruthlessly swallowed down by him. Clearly doing so was useless because he still felt something for her, now more than ever.

But he was just as stubborn as she, and he had gotten it into his head that relationships only complicated things. He couldn't risk it.

"Tenten," he stated, as calm as he could given the circumstances. "Get off."

She seemed to finally realize what kind of a position they were in, and she blushed furiously before scrambling off him and getting to her feet. He'd followed, standing across from her now. They were silent for a long moment, and then Tenten seemed to remember why she was so upset in the first place, because she launched into another assault, a verbal one thankfully.

"I cannot believe you just walked away from me while I was talking to you about avoiding me, you jackass!"

Neji winced internally at that. He should really apologize, for many things, but his damn pride had him simply standing there with a blank expression on his face. She was yelling, throwing words at him so fast that he couldn't tell where one ended and the other began. But then he realized that there were tears running down her face. His cool composure cracked slightly, along with his heart, at the sight of her crying.

Tenten didn't cry. She wasn't like the other Kunoichi, getting all emotional over this and that, a fact for which he was grateful. But she was crying _now,_ and it was _his_ fault. His heart twisted painfully as he watched her, fairly certain that she didn't even notice the tears on her face.

"And you don't even bother to see if I'm okay after my missions! And-And, I love you, you fucking asshole!"

If Neji hadn't been stunned by her tears, he definitely was after those words flew out of her mouth with the same ferocity as the ones that came before. His eyebrows shot way up and his eyes widened marginally. It may not have seemed like much, but for Neji Hyuga, those tiny movements were huge. Tenten, for her part, seemed completely horrified at her confession. She slapped a hand over her mouth and stared at him through huge eyes.

They stood there like that for a long time, grateful that they were far enough from Konoha that no one would interrupt them. Neji gritted his teeth, fists clenched at his sides, and Tenten was determined to keep her eyes on the blades of grass beneath their feet.

She shifted finally, and Neji knew her so well that he didn't need to look into her eyes to know that they were now set determinedly. Sure enough, she raised her head, chin tilted high as she gazed right into his eyes. The look in them had his palms going all sweaty, but he simply blinked at her.

"It wasn't how I imagined I'd tell you," she started, a faint blush lighting her cheeks even though the resolve remained in her eyes. Neji could see where this was going, and he couldn't figure out if he wanted to stop her or let her continue. Tenten made the decision for him, however, when she continued speaking. "But I meant it."

"I…I love you Neji," she said, a brief flash of hesitation moving through her eyes, and his breath caught in his throat even as his heart hammered wildly in his chest. "I've been in love with you for years."

While it was easy for him to ignore speculations and assumptions about her feelings for him, it was infinitely harder to ignore a confession made directly to him. He didn't have the slightest clue on what he was supposed to do. He knew he _wanted_ to pull her into his arms and tell her that he felt the same way, but he also knew that he couldn't do so.

She was waiting for him to say something, anything, and Neji's stomach sank all the way down to his feet. He had to clear his throat three times before he trusted himself to speak. His voice had to be as nonchalant as it usually was, he'd accept no less from himself. He had to fight down what he wanted to say in order to say what he had to. But when he spoke, the words sounded hollow even to his own ears.

"Tenten…I understand that you think you lo-feel something for me."

 _I love you._

"But what you're feeling is simply our close bond of friendship."

 _I love you._

"You are my best friend, and I trust you more than anyone."

 _I love you._

"But we are _just_ friends. And as shinobi, that is all we can be, you know that."

 _I love you._

He paused then, cursing himself to the fiery pits of hell when he saw the way the hope in her eyes faded to anguish.

 _Tenten, I love you._

"…Would you…care to spar when we get back to the village…?" He was attempting to soften the blow somewhat, but the incredulous look she sent him had him biting his tongue. She looked at him for a long moment with an expression he couldn't quite read. And then she turned around and disappeared into the trees.

Neji had stood there, stock still, for what felt like hours. Finally, he gave in to the urge to drop to his knees. He felt something warm on his cheeks and mechanically raised his hand to touch the dampness on his face. He couldn't even bring himself to care that he was crying. What was the point? After everything was said and done, he was a coward afterall.

Tenten had kept out of his way after that day. She didn't come to ask him to go to lunch, she didn't come to the compounds requesting to have tea together or to spar. He caught glimpses of her here and there around the village, usually with Lee or one of the girls. He'd watch from the shadows as she laughed and joked around, and he wondered if her smile seemed as forced to the people around her as it did to him.

There were times when he saw her alone, and part of him wanted to go to her and tell her that he'd made a mistake. That he hadn't meant what he said before. But he couldn't bring himself to do so.

Truth be told, _the_ Neji Hyuga was scared.

Terrified really. These feelings were a distraction. And distractions led to mistakes. And in their line of work, mistakes led to accidents, often lethal ones. He would never forgive himself if something happened to Tenten. He couldn't even fathom the thought of her not being around. Even if they weren't speaking, at least he could _see_ her and know that she was okay. But if she was gone…No. He couldn't bear it.

And that in itself was a weakness.

He couldn't afford to show any weakness. And so he tried to convince himself that he was okay with the situation. That he was okay with her keeping him at arms length. As long as she was safe, he didn't care.

Except he did care.

The distance was agonizing.

He thought of her all the time, not even bothering to try and dispel the feelings like he used to. The irony of it all wasn't lost on him. He had turned her away to avoid distractions, and there he was, more distracted by her than ever.

Perhaps that was why their mission had gone awry, he thought as he tried to use his Byakugan again. Perhaps it was his fault that they were now separated. Perhaps he was too distracted with trying to soak in Tenten's presence that he messed up somehow.

Truth be told, his memory was kind of hazy. He tried to concentrate, tried to think back to how they'd split in the first place, but he came up blank.

A sudden shrill scream had him sprinting through the trees before he even realized what he was doing. He knew that voice. He knew it better than anyone.

Tenten.

It didn't take long for him to stumble into the clearing, heart in his throat. The moonlight shone down on Gai and Lee as they knelt in the grass. Around them, rogue shinobi lay dead, weapons strewn here and there.

Something wasn't right.

Lee and Gai were never that quiet. And what was that they were leaning over?

And where was Tenten?

He heard a small sniffle then and noticed that Lee's shoulders were shaking.

No…

"Lee," he said, his voice cracking. His legs felt like lead, but still he forced himself to move forward.

"Lee…where's Tenten?"

When he was greeted with no answer, he turned to address Gai instead.

"Gai-Sensei…Tenten…Wh-Where is Tenten?"

The older man looked over his shoulder to fix his teary eyes on his student. Neji almost stumbled back at the look of grief in his eyes.

No.

No.

There was no way.

Not his Tenten.

He found himself running to wear they sat. It seemed to take much longer than it should have, but soon he found himself looming over the pair on the grass.

Or rather, the trio on the grass.

Her head was cradled in Gai's lap, so he couldn't see her face. But he saw the rest of her. He saw her unmistakable clothing, nicked here and there from battle, saw one of her delicate little hands between Lee's.

His eyes were drawn to the large red stain that covered most of her torso.

"Neji!" Lee wailed, breaking the eerie silence. "Th-They ambushed her. We arrived too late…O-Our beautiful lotus blossom is-"

"No…"

Neji didn't know how he got to his knees, or when Gai and Lee moved away, but he soon found himself leaning over Tenten's lifeless body. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he reached out to hesitantly touch her cheek. His hands shook like the leaves dancing overhead.

Her skin was still warm.

"Tenten...Wake up."

Grasping her shoulders, he shook her, gently at first but more forcefully as the hysteria built in his chest.

"Tenten! Listen to me! Wake up. Now."

And yet his pretty Kunoichi remained perfectly still, the warmth in her body fading fast.

"Oh, Kami please," he found himself whimpering as he gathered her into his arms and close to his chest. "Please, please, Tenten, please wake up."

He was rocking, back and forth, back and forth. The hysteria had long since bubbled over and he was fairly certain he was going crazy. But he didn't care. Tenten was…

"Tenten, come back to me," he begged again, pressing kisses all over her face. He tasted tears, tears that couldn't have been hers because she was-

"Neji."

Stricken, Neji tipped his head up to look at Gai, Tenten still clutched against his chest. Had he been himself, he'd had noticed the odd looks both Lee and Gai were giving him. But he didn't care. He didn't care about anything.

Tenten was-

"Where were you Neji?" asked Gai softly, and Neji dropped his gaze, shame warring with sorrow. "Where were you when she needed you?"

"You were supposed to protect her," added Lee, hands clenched in fists. "You said you would always protect her, but look. Look at what has happened. You let this happen."

A distressed sound left Neji's lips as he looked at the two of them. How could they even…especially now with Tenten…? But as he blinked the tears in his eyes away to focus on her face, he knew he deserved it. They were right. Where was he when Tenten needed him? He was so concerned with protecting her, and yet it was his fault that this had happened to her.

"And she loved you so much…She has for so long."

"I do too," he said desperately to the two men, darting his anguished gaze up to them. "I love her." Lee didn't say anything, closing his eyes and shaking his head solemnly.

"Your actions sure do not seem like it," he said and Neji's breath hitched as he looked back down at Tenten.

"I love you," he said, the words coming out in a jumbled mess in his haste. "I love you. I love you, Tenten. I've loved you for years, please…"

But his confession came too late. The words fell on ears that would never again hear him.

The tears were coming faster now, and they hid her face from his vision. Growling in frustration, he buried his face into the side of her neck and howled in pain.

"Tenten!"

* * *

When Neji suddenly lurched upright in his bed, her name on her lips, Tenten nearly fell off the uncomfortable hospital chair in surprise. The book she was pretending to read fell from her hands as she looked wide eyed at Neji who was sitting up in his hospital bed. His chest was heaving with labored breaths, and his handsome face was ashen as he fixed his pale eyes on her.

It had been almost a week since they admitted an unconscious Neji to the Konoha hospital. Their mission had gone smoothly, and Lee and Gai had wanted to do another one of their training exercises to commemorate the event. It was ridiculous how some things didn't change. Those two were still as crazy as ever, and she and Neji had watched as they disappeared down the path on their fingertips. Since they'd gone out ahead and neither she nor Neji had any intention of doing anything of the sort, they had fallen back together.

It was the first time they'd been alone together in months.

Ever since she confessed her feelings and Neji had unceremoniously rejected her, she had kept her distance from him. It hurt. To be so far away from him. But she couldn't bear the thought of being near him and yet not be _with_ him in the way she wanted.

The most frustrating part of it all was that she _knew_ Neji felt something for her too, and she'd known for years. He may have seemed like a coldhearted ninja to most, and oftentimes he was, but she got to see the other side of him. The kinder, gentler side of him. The side that cared for her and wasn't afraid to show it.

She waited for years for him to make a move on her, but she was starting to realize that that wasn't happening any time soon. She'd complained about it to the girls on one of their nights out, and Ino had suggested that she make the first move herself. The others had agreed, stating that it was obvious that Neji felt the same way but was too much of a stick in the mud to do anything about it.

She was still thinking about it when Neji began distancing himself. She began seeing less and less of him, and it broke her heart.

That day when she told him she loved him, on the way back from a mission, she didn't mean to. Well, she didn't mean to spit it out in the middle of an argument like she did, but it happened and she rolled with it. Only to have him shut her down in that ever so cool and collected way of his. She was so angry. But even despite it all, she was still in love with him.

They were a couple hours away from Konoha when the group of rogue shinobi attacked them. They hadn't been expecting it, but years of fighting side by side allowed them to fall back into their old routines instantly.

It was a mistake on her part, she wasn't paying enough attention. She hadn't seen the shinobi come up behind her while she was engaging another, but Neji had. The idiot shoved her aside and took the blow to his head. The blow that was meant for her.

She had watched, horrified as he dropped to the ground, unconscious. Her heart clenched and she wanted to run to him, but she knew that she had to take care of the shinobi first. She'd dispatched the last two just as Lee and Gai came doubling back to them. They'd taken one look at Neji and the stricken look on her face, and they'd all wordlessly dashed to the hospital in record time.

Tsunade herself had taken Neji into surgery. They'd been in there for ages with the rest of Team Gai sitting anxiously outside the operating theater. Hinata and Hiashi dropped by at one point before they had to leave on clan business. The Hokage came out of surgery hours later, informing them that, while Neji made it, he was in a coma.

Tenten remembered the way her heart sank, filled with guilt and fear. It was her fault Neji was injured. He hurt himself trying to protect her. Lee and Gai tried shouldering some of the blame, saying that they shouldn't have gone ahead like they did, but Tenten brushed them off.

She rarely strayed from his bedside in the days following. She sat by his bed, reading to him or talking to him. Sometimes she simply sat and stared at his chiseled features, her previous anger and frustration with him dissipating as the fear of him never waking up mounted. She had avoided him, yes, but she was still very much in love with him.

Others from Rookie 9 and the Hyuga clan came to visit him periodically, and she'd move to a chair in the corner of the room when they did. She refused to leave his side, regardless of who came to see him. Even Hiashi didn't protest when Tenten refused to leave when he came to see his nephew.

Lee and Gai were there often as well, but they went home for the nights and cycled in and out during the day. They hadn't bothered trying to convince Tenten to go home. Instead, they brought her a change of clothes and food each day. In fact, the pair had been there with her all morning and had just stepped out to get them all lunch.

Getting shakily to her feet, she dug her blunt nails into her palms, making sure that she wasn't dreaming. Making sure that Neji really was awake.

"I…I'll go get Tsunade-"

She was in the process of walking by his hospital bed and towards the door to get the medic when his hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. Before she could question him or admonish him for exerting himself, he yanked her hard enough that she was sprawled half on him. Worried that she was going to hurt him, she tried to pull away, but Neji held fast, his arms wrapping tightly around her as he buried his face into the side of her neck. She couldn't help but go still at the sudden, uncharacteristic action. Even when they had been at their closest, Neji was still stingy when it came to physical contact. And now he was holding her so close that she could barely tell where he ended and she began. It was then that she realized that he was trembling.

Tenten frowned, worried now. He was acting so unlike himself. Was something wrong with him? She'd never, ever forgive herself for this. Reaching up, she hesitated only for a split second before she put her hands on either side of his face and drawing him back so their eyes could meet. The tormented look in his beautiful lilac gaze had her heart squeezing. Was he hurting? Was it his head? She had to go get Tsunade.

"Neji," she whispered, he thumbs brushing against his cheeks soothingly. "Don't worry, I'll go get Tsunade and she'll-"

"I love you."

The fingers moving on his face stilled as she openly gaped at her former teammate. Did he just… How hard did he hit his head?

"I…what?" she asked stupidly, brows furrowed as she questioned whether she was in some wonderfully twisted genjutsu.

Neji however, did not miss a beat as he brought his hands up to cup her face carefully, as though he thought she'd disappear at any moment. Once he was reassured that she was in fact real, she was horrified to see that his eyes misted over slightly.

Neji Hyuga was…crying? He really must have been dealt quite the blow.

She was still shocked, and very confused, but the sight of the love of her life looking so torn up had her brushing all her own feelings aside with the intention of doing whatever it took to make him feel better.

"Neji," she soothed, gently setting one of her hands atop his own as it rested on her face. "Neji…what's wrong?"

She watched his Adams apple bob as he swallowed a couple times before he spoke.

"I…Tenten….I-You were dead…And I never got the chance to tell you. I'm an asshole, I know and I was such an idiot to turn you down that day even though I didn't really want to. But I thought it'd be for the best, I thought I could protect you, but you died anyway. And I just couldn't-I can't. Tenten I can't be in a world where you didn't exist. I just-"

"Woah, woah, woah. Neji, please calm down," she murmured, moving to take both his hands in hers, giving them a reassuring squeeze. He was rambling, sounding almost hysterical. Neji never rambled.

And Neji most certainly never got hysterical.

All because he thought she was…

"Why would I be dead Neji? I'm fine. Look at me." She waited until his eyes finished roaming over her and returned to her own. "See? I'm perfectly fine. It's you who almost died. And it was my fault."

She watched his eyes carefully, watched as the events that happened before he went into the coma played back in his mind. She watched the realization flash over his face before he lay back in the bed, propped up by the pillows. Closing his eyes, he let go of one of her hands to pinch the bridge of his nose. She left him to his thoughts, waiting silently for him to address her again. And finally, he did.

Dropping the hand against his face, he looked over at her. He seemed to look more like himself now, though the way he clutched at her hand told her that he was still a little shaken up.

"It was a dream." He said finally, his voice soft. When she didn't say anything, he sighed quietly.

"I had a dream. And in it you were-You had…I wasn't there for you…" he finished lamely with a shrug, unable to bring himself to say the words again. Unable to relive the horror of thinking she was gone.

"You dreamed that I was dead," she supplied, watching as he flinched and squeezed her fingers tightly.

"Yes."

"Oh…"

They fell silent again, her eyes on the bed sheets and his staring unseeing into the wall. As more and more time passed, Tenten became increasingly restless. She'd never been the patient type, and the silence was just torture. She wanted to ask him if he meant what he said. His confession of love. She wanted to know if he really meant it or if it was just something prompted by the thought of her death. The longer he stayed silent, the more it started to seem like the latter.

Tenten couldn't help the way her heart sank all over again. For a moment there, she had let her hopes up, but now…

When she felt his cool finger slide under her chin to lift her face, she tried to blink the tears out of her eyes. He studied her for a long moment, stroking his fingers idly against her skin as she had done before.

"I meant what I said," he stated, and her throat contracted. "I do love you Tenten. I have for years now, but I've just been too hardheaded to accept it. I've been quite the jackass."

At that, she couldn't help but chuckle lightly, a stray tear slipping down her cheek as her heart soared. "You definitely are a jackass," she agreed, enjoying the very slight curve of his lips. "But you're my jackass."

And then his lips were brushing hesitantly over hers, as thought he was testing the waters. In response, Tenten had grabbed him and kissed him right back. Hard. It was all the assurance he needed to deepen the kiss, dragging her more firmly against him.

They pulled back a long while later, panting and lightly flushed. Foreheads touching, Neji brushed his thumb across her cheekbone. His eyes were closed, and he had a softly blissful look on his face. Tenten had never thought he looked more handsome than he did in that moment. And she was feeling quite pleased with herself for putting that look there.

The moment, however, was shattered when Lee and Gai appeared at the door with lunch. Once they saw Neji sitting up in bed, they dropped the bags in their hands. And then they were wailing about Neji's 'return to the realm of the living', tears streaming down their cheeks as they wrestled one another to get closer to the man in the hospital bed. But even their antics couldn't ruin the happy glow of the couple. Neji simply raised an eyebrow, making an offhanded comment about never having left the realm of the living in the first place, which prompted Gai to tearfully praise his youthfulness, which in turn prompted an equally tearful Lee to make declarations of how he would strive to be as youthful as his rival.

Their shouting had Tsunade storming into the room, sparing Neji an idle glance before threatening to throw them all out for creating a disturbance in the hospital. Lee and Gai responded by trying to explain the joys of Neji's youthfulness to the increasingly agitated Hokage, who was clearly five seconds away from snapping someone's neck.

And literally five seconds later, Tsunade had Lee in a headlock with Gai gushing about how the Hokage was displaying her youthfulness and that Lee should be taking notes. The younger of the two had clearly taken his sensei's words literally for he had drawn a notepad from Kami knows where and began to scribble on it furiously, even as his face started to turn an odd shade of pink.

Shizune scrambled into the room just as Tsunade backhanded Gai right through the wall across from them. The apprentice took a moment to survey the situation before dropping her clipboard and attempting to pry the older woman off Lee before he died of oxygen deprivation. Gai returned through he hole in the wall, sporting a lump on his head and a wide grin on his face, saying something about the youthful flowers of Konoha.

And through it all, Neji and Tenten sat together, sharing wry smiles as they watched the familiar chaos that was their team with their fingers gently entwined.

* * *

 **Got ya there in the middle, didn't I? lol Or well, I hope I did. But, I don't think I could bring myself to kill either of them off. They're just too adorable together, and Neji reminds me of someone I love very deeply. Sooo yea :)**

 **Please, please leave me a review, because it'll put a smile on my face, and everyone loves smiles. And they're so totally youthful, lol :P**


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